Random adventures and repairs on our old boat

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Another working weekend

Wouldn’t you know it? THE nicest weather of the year and Seafair weekend to boot. Where are we? Lounging on the deck in the sun with a big hat and a drinks with little umbrellas? Nope. How about squeezed into the flybridge combing re-wiring all the electronics. Yup.

Instead of having fun, we were foolishly trying to get some work done. We are headed north for a few weeks coming up soon and needed to get a few last minute things done.

First was the flybridge wiring. Previous owners have been creative in the work that was done. Not much attention to detail. We had a few electronic components to install so it made sense to clean up all the wiring that was there at the same time.

We installed a Garmin network hub, an XM satellite receiver, and an AIS 600 transponder ( and a fancy new dedicated AIS antenna too!).

I know, I know … it doesn’t look all that different, but it is a heck of an improvement from what it was. And a fair bit of work as well. We used two Blue Sea DualBus busbars and raised them up away from the floor. The busbars come with a plastic cover. While we don’t store a bunch of stuff in there, I feel better about the safety of the connections with the busbar connections covered and up off the floor.

New deck lights were installed on the mast last week. These lights are Dually’s from Rigid Industries. They are really great. LED. Very bright. Low current draw. One amp each.

We installed two Dually flood (60111) lights facing forward, and two Dually diffused flood (60151)lights facing aft. In hindsight, the flood lights are so bright I probably should have just used diffused flood lights for all four. Follow the link for more info about the light pattern options.

Coming from the sailboat world, we always try to minimize power consumption when anchored out. A previous owner seems to have misplaced the generator so we are limited to batteries. No problem, we are used to it.

The next project was to replace the old and feeble little fluorescent light fixtures inside the boat. The old fixtures consist of a single fluorescent bulb and a fixture about 12 inches long. They are recessed into the roof of the boat and really don’t make much light. A previous owner had gone so far as to tack aluminum foil inside the housings in an attempt to reflect more light. I don’t think that was very successful. We chose to replace the lights entirely using LED strips from Lunasea. The 24 LED light bars fit perfectly in the existing space. We chose the warm white version. It took less than five minutes for each of the six fixtures. The result is much more light and lower current draw. I am really happy with this change.

We managed to get a couple of other things done around the boat before I ran out of motivation. Then it was time for a swim. Right after I jumped in, I realized that is what I should have been doing all along. The water felt great.

All in all, a great weekend. Even though we didn’t leave the dock, we were still on the boat. That is never bad.